The issue of alcohol labelling has been raised again as health groups claim that voluntary efforts are failing consumers and statutory labelling requirements should be set out.
The Alcohol Health Alliance has released a new report including a survey which found only 1 label out of 315 it reviewed informed consumers of the current low-risk weekly guideline of 14 units, despite the revised guideline having been announced 15 months ago. Seven products informed UK consumers of the Republic of Ireland unit guidelines (21 and 14 units per week for men and women respectively), whilst no products contained health warnings of specific illnesses or diseases. None of the products were found to include advice on spreading alcohol consumption over the week or having alcohol-free days, though nearly all products included pregnancy warnings.
Earlier this year the Department of Health (DoH) released a document outlining how it would like to see the revised drinking guidelines communicated on alcohol packaging and containers, though the AHA's suggested examples of health labels are notably more explicit. The AHA also suggest further alcohol information should link to NHS sources of alcohol information such as NHS Choices, whereas the DoH guidance endorses Drinkaware, the industry funded education charity.
Whilst the AHA report focuses its calls on health warnings, other bodies such as the Faculty of Public Health have called for requirements on nutritional labelling including calories; information that may be of interest to many consumers given the relatively high calorie content of alcohol. However the evidence for alcohol labelling in terms of changing drinking behaviours alone is lacking, with recent research identifying just 7–8% of packaging viewing time spent on warning labels, though the small size of the messages may be a significant factor. The AHA however state the issue is about consumers 'right to know' in order to support informed decision making.
Currently there appear not to be any voluntary commitments on labelling from UK drinks producers since the former responsibility deal expired. In 2011 it had announced a pledge to "ensure that over 80% of products on shelf (by December 2013) will have labels with clear unit content, NHS guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant", which was claimed to have been met in 2014. However research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) reported its own analysis found otherwise, whilst the alcohol pledges overall were deemed to be ineffective. A previous voluntary labelling pledge also failed to deliver according to an independent report in 2010 which found just 15% of drinks gave consumers sufficient information as per the voluntary code
WHO document on labelling policy options
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also recently released a report exploring labelling policy options in Europe. The WHO also take the position that appropriate labelling of alcoholic drinks represents a consumer right with regards to informed choices. Labels should be 'considered as part of a comprehensive strategy to provide information and educate consumers to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm', which should be seen 'not as an initiative that will modify behaviour overnight, but as a way of bringing gradual change over time'.
The WHO document highlights that to date 'alcoholic beverages have benefited from special treatment' as are 'exempted from international conventions that govern all other psychoactive substances and from key food legislation that requires labelling of ingredients and nutritional information'. It states that in order to bring alcoholic drinks in line other beverage packaging (EU Regulation No. 1169/2011), containers would need to list ingredients and seven nutritional values per 100 ml.
The report says France was the first member state to require mandatory labelling on the health risks associated with drinking alcohol. Alcoholic products are required to either to include the message: “consumption of alcoholic drinks during pregnancy, even in small amounts, may have serious consequences on the child’s health” or to use a pictogram. Thirteen of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region reported health warning labels are legally required on alcoholic beverages at a national level, with ten Member States including a legal requirement stipulating the size of the health warning labels or advertisements.
The WHO report also highlights evidence that health labels in the US appear to have helped raise awareness of risks and prompted discussions. Evidence for a 'dose–response' effect was also found whereby the more information consumers had seen (i.e at point of sale, in magazines and on containers), the more likely they were to have discussed the issue.
Health groups across Europe will no doubt continue to call for statutory requirements on alcohol labelling. Such efforts may not currently be as much of a priority as policy levers such as pricing, but alcohol policy debates are never far from the issue of how supporting informed decision making should be enacted.
Comments